The chair of a newly-formed Committee on Writing, whose charge it was to define writing-intensive courses and make recommendations on a college-wide writing program, was forced to examine her own beliefs and priorities about language and learning. The committee had at least one member from each academic division, met weekly during the semester,…

While the objectives of linking-across-the-curriculum may be laudable, the program as it has evolved only serves to perpetuate every existing stereotype about the place of composition in the curriculum and the role of the composition instructor in the academic setting. Instead of providing an arena in which students encounter shared knowledge…

What happens in a writing center is always directly linked to a particular curriculum. If the "old regime" featured a 2-course writing requirement, the writing center director generally teaches in the English department and the center works closely to support composition and technical writing and advanced composition sections. Student writers may…

A 2-year seminar (jointly funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Pew Charitable Trusts) explored ways faculty at La Salle University in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) might integrate the emphasis on self-awareness as well as the historical, political, and ethical insight common in humanities courses with courses in other…

In response to criticisms from an accrediting agency, the director of the Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) program at the State University of New York, Farmingdale, designed a one-day marathon session and a series of biweekly seminars to bridge the gap between WAC truths and the assumptions of the engineering faculty concerning writing…

An ongoing study evaluated the effectiveness of a writing across the curriculum (WAC) program at a small liberal arts college. Fifty-five out of 99 full-time faculty responded to a survey seeking to compare WAC faculty who had voluntarily participated in at least a 3-day workshop to faculty not involved in the WAC program. Pre- and post-workshop…

The Writing Across the Business Disciplines Project at Robert Morris College has had a profound effect on faculty from various disciplines who have taken part in the program since its inception in 1985. Each participant targets a specific course in his or her own field for intensive scrutiny and eventual re-design. During this process, faculty…

A University of Wyoming program designed to help faculty work on writing skills with students, primarily graduate students, for whom English is a second language (ESL) is described. The workshop was developed in response to increasing requests for writing center help with ESL graduate students. The report describes several different early…

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) developed around the understanding that writing is a developmental, incremental procedure that is intimately linked to thinking. Two major branches in the WAC movement are the write-to-learn focus, or the push to incorporate writing tasks solely as strategies for teaching and learning course material, and the…

This paper describes the process of structuring a Writing across the Curriculum Workshop for college faculty and reflects on some of the workshop's problems and highlights. Workshop participant selection was based on previous expressions of interest from faculty or from recommendations of department chairs. The workshop itself consisted of six…

In 1989, a study was conducted within the Minnesota Community College System to determine the effects of a 3-year Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) staff development program on the quality of student writing and on student mastery of course objectives. The study methods included faculty interviews, student and faculty surveys, holistic ratings…